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Middle East and North Africa News

On the eve of the latest deadline for a potential deal with Iran over its nuclear program, Robert Litwak has authored an insightful study that considers the technical and political contexts for a possible resolution. He identifies a core question --- Is Iran a “revolutionary state” or an “ordinary country”?

Director Jane Harman discusses the escalating violence between Israel and the Palestinians and the immigration crisis on CBS News' Talk of the Nation with Gerald Seib, Danielle Pletka, and Nia-Malika Henderson.

Yes, Israelis and Palestinians have entered yet another violent round in their seemingly interminable conflict. How did they get into this mess? And, more important, how are they going to get out of it? As we watch the fighting escalate, here are five myths that need correcting.

Egypt's civil liberties have been called into question several times since the January 25 Revolution. Most recently, Egypt issued a law limiting preaching at mosques to graduates of Al-Azhar University. While this has come under heavy criticism both nationally and internationally, this decision is an attempt by Egypt to regulate, not restrict, religious freedoms, and in so doing puts Egypt back on the road to recovery from years of religious misinterpretation.

"The goal [of U.S. Middle East policy] is a strategy shaped together with the Middle Eastern world: leaders and peoples alike, borrowing the best impulses of the bottom-up Arab Spring and the traditionally top-down U.S. approach to engagement. Our promise to the Middle East must be one in which collaboration helps the people of the region achieve shared values by a route of their own choice," writes Jane Harman in The Washington Post.

“Women have been a key and continued to be the key to reconstruct Iran and also introduce changes and improve the social affairs in Iran,” remarked Haleh Esfandiari in an interview with The Sasakawa Peace Foundation.

“Showing utter disregard for basic rights is no way for Cairo to prove its claim of transitioning back to democratic rule—or convincing the outside world that Egypt is a safe place to travel or to invest,” writes Robin Wright.